“Kourtney’s got a new boyfriend and a new therapist and I don’t know which one’s the problem, but she’s a different human being,” said Kim, 37, referring to Kourtney’s recent ex Younes Bendjima. “She’s so nasty to us.”

Khloé, 34, and Kourtney’s ex Scott Disick, 35, also raised their concerns about Kourtney’s new therapist — “If you’re watching, we hate you,” quipped Kim at one point — before the three sisters finally sat down to try to hash things out.

“We all have different realities of what goes on when we have our fights,” said Kim. “We all communicate really weird, and we just don’t ever express what’s really bothering us and we all walk on eggshells around each other.”

“We always just sweep things under the rug and we don’t talk anything through,” added Khloé. “That’s just what this family does.”

Kim suggested they see a therapist together, but Kourtney, 39, shot the idea down before falling silent, interrupting the conversation to edit a photo on her phone. The move infuriated both Khloé and Kim, who stormed out of the room.

“If you don’t care to fix relationships with your sisters, I can’t force you to,” said Khloé.

Kourtney broke down into tears, explaining that she felt like they didn’t have her back.

“They don’t take my feelings into consideration,” she said. “I don’t even want to be around my sisters because it just gives me anxiety.”

Kim and Khloé, meanwhile, felt that the main issue was Kourtney being unable to “handle any sort of responsibility.”

“Listen, there’s two new things in her life: boyfriend, and then her therapist,” Khloé told momager Kris Jenner. “Ever since then she’s been a raging bitch and instead of her owning it, she takes it out on everyone else. It’s so rude. It’s not how you raised any of us. We’ve said it in so many different ways. She’s so not engaged and I think that’s what infuriates everyone.”

Eventually, Kourtney agreed to a session with a family therapist.

“I’m here to do this group therapy with my sisters, which I didn’t think that we needed,” she said. “But I think that because we just don’t communicate that well, maybe having somebody else guide the conversation could be very helpful.”

“I think generally we just need to learn how to communicate together,” she continued. “And I’m the one who invented ‘mean fighting,’ just saying the meanest things possible, but I’m just not wanting to fight like that anymore. I don’t want to be mean and I don’t want to spend my time around people that are mean and putting me down.”

“You surround yourself with people that seem to be the opposite, in my opinion,” Kim said. “You’re preaching that you just want this zen life and you’re so positive and you don’t want to fight, but most of the time you’re arguing about stuff that it’s like, again? This? Everyone sees it and everyone comments on it.”

Continuing, Kim pointed out that Kourtney had gotten “anxious and insecure.”

“But it’s also an insecurity I’ve never seen from her before,” Khloé chimed in. “She’s so confident and so secure, but ever since the past few months where she’s been with this therapist … I don’t know what it is, but I feel like she’s angry towards me or annoyed with me.”

“Kourtney and I have a really special bond,” she continued. “I haven’t felt that from her in the last couple of months and that’s been frustrating for me, but I also don’t want to put that all on her shoulders. But I do feel a major disconnect between her and I specifically, and I would like to understand what that is.”

Crying, Kourtney said she felt like her sisters were never “genuinely” happy for her.

“Like, when I say I’m going on a trip — everything to you guys … the show is more important, work is more important,” she said. “Maybe traveling isn’t a priority to you, but it is to me. You would never take the time to just go do something, because maybe you don’t want to leave work. … We all have different priorities and working, it’s not my top priority. It’s never going to be.”

While they all agreed to try to be more sensitive with each other, each sister left the therapy session feeling just as unsettled as before.

“I feel like my sisters really aren’t hearing what I’m saying and we’re focusing on the wrong issues about me being late, or my trips,” said Kourtney. “I just don’t know how this is going to change moving forward.”

While Kim acknowledged that it seemed like Kourtney was “definitely going through something,” she was adamant that it was no excuse for bailing on her work commitments.

“She can’t commit to filming a season and sharing her life if she’s not going to at all,” said Kim. “We honestly want Kourtney to take her trips and live her life and do whatever it is she wants to do. But we just want her to be held accountable and be responsible — that when you take a job and are getting paid to do something, you honor that. Because all of us do.”

“I think Kourtney is just going through something and it’ll even out,” she continued. “You’ve got to let someone do what they want to do. Whatever Kourtney is going through, it’s just so much deeper than me and Khloé. Until Kourtney is ready to talk about it, I think we can’t push her or try to be aggressive and for me, that’s where it’s really frustrating. She’s going through a lot of life changes right now and we just have to let her go through that.”

“This is nothing new,” said the source. “Kim has been on the outs with Kourtney and Khloé before, but right now, Khloé and Kim are on the same wavelength. They both have new babies and they have a lot in common and a lot to share.”

Kourtney, meanwhile, “is much more private than they are and sometimes removes herself from the family stuff,” according to the source.

“But this is isn’t some major feud,”said the source. “These sisters have always been able to dish it out and take it. And yes, of course they know the arguments and fights make for good TV. But they’re fine!”

Kourtney herself recently told PEOPLE that she was “definitely on a journey of just really working on myself” around the time the episode was filmed.

“I think I’ve always been the sister who would just tell them like it is, or if they said something to me, I’d just break them right down the fastest and make them upset and now I’ve been working on being more in touch with my feelings,” she said.

“I think I just couldn’t take it anymore,” she added. “I felt like we needed to make a change and not be so critical. We’ve always been a family who will do anything for each other and we know that at the end of the day, but sometimes there’s criticism and I felt not good hanging out with them everyday and I couldn’t take it anymore. So you’ll see in the season how it plays out.”

Jessica Knoll talks the explosion of #MeToo, the dangers of performed girl power, and her page-turning new book The Favorite Sister

It would be tempting to call The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll a beach read. After all, it’s about a group of five women — Brett, Stephanie, Kelly, Lauren, and Jen — who are the stars of Goal Diggers, a reality TV show about young female entrepreneurs. It certainly has all the makings of a great beach read; the book opens with a murder and alternates between the past and the present, switching narrators as you slowly gather information and put the pieces together of what really happened. There are juicy secrets, dramatic catfights, and unexpected twists galore.

But while The Favorite Sister IS an A+ book to read on the beach, it provides so much more than just a few hours of entertainment. It’s a necessary commentary on the ways women can be emotionally abusive to each other. It will make you think twice about those people who rush to claim they support women in public, but act so differently in private. And that’s not to mention how it’ll make you rethink everything you thought you knew about reality TV.

In under 400 pages, Knoll tackles everything from money and ambition to race and sexuality. It’s a tall order, but she’s written an addicting novel about what happens when we want to celebrate women for being go-getters, yet punish them when they actually try to go and get.

I spoke with Knoll about The Favorite Sister and what it was like telling this story during the height of the #MeToo era. Don’t worry, there aren’t any spoilers ahead!

HelloGiggles: I’m sure you get this question a lot, but I have to ask: What’s your relationship with reality TV? Love it? Hate it? Fascinated by it? Somewhere in between?

Jessia Knoll: It’s a strong relationship. I’m not one of those people who thinks that reality TV is the death of intellectual culture, high art, or anything like that. [laughs] I think that we need to balance the light with the dark, and I don’t think anyone, particularly women, should ever feel guilty about consuming something that is maybe not the most thought-provoking material out there. I think we should feel free to enjoy what we enjoy and not feel like we have to apologize for that or make excuses for ourselves.

I’m a big fan of [reality TV], and I have been for some time. When I started working on my second book, I felt really tapped out in terms of material, because I had used so much of my own life in my first book. They were rerunning the first season of The Real Housewives of New York City, and I was watching it, and I was like, This is so rife with drama and tension. It occurred to me that this would be a great setting for my next novel, and that I know these women so well, and I know their relationships so well, that I could borrow a little bit from them.

HG: Reality TV is such a different viewing experience.

JK: I think it’s very interesting that it’s so manipulated, and yet we still call it reality TV. That turned out to be a very prescient medium given where we find ourselves today with the first reality TV president; the way people are simply able to say, That’s not true, it’s fake news. Like if you say it, it just becomes true. Facts don’t matter. To me, that is very much playing off the reality TV culture.

HG: It’s a culture where every little thing, whether us viewers realize it or not, comes from a place of manipulation.

JK: Right. Yes. These are people’s real reactions to being put in these very highly-orchestrated and manipulated scenarios.

A post shared by Jessica Knoll (@jessicaknollauthor) on May 15, 2018 at 9:08pm PDT

HG: The five Goal Diggers each see the world very differently. They have such different approaches to business and ambition and success and being a strong woman. Can you talk a little bit about forming their world views, and how you balanced such distinct opinions?

JK: The whole trick of it was, the show itself is purporting to be this new model of reality TV that’s the new guard of millennial women. It’s going to portray strong women, empowered women, women who support each other and build each other up. And it’s supposed to be the fresh take on reality TV that we’ve never seen before. Because mostly we’re seeing women who maybe have fabulous lives, but the only reason they have those fabulous lives is because they’re funded by men, and they’re conniving and backstabbing and all of these things. So Goal Diggers is like, We are gonna set the new tone for reality TV. The intentions are pure, and it turns out that people don’t want to consume that kind of content; it’s not interesting to the viewer. So they — when I say “they,” I mean Jesse the creator, the producers, the editors, everybody involved — start to go against the ideals they espouse at the beginning of the show.

For me, Brett represented the show in what it is on the surface, and Stephanie represented what was actually going on behind the scenes. Brett was the one who was drinking the Kool-aid, who was buying what Jesse was selling. So at first, you’re like, Okay, I’m on Brett’s side, this is great, she’s supportive of other women, she’s cool, she’s body positive. Stephanie is the one who is problematic here. I liked the idea that your perspective on each of them would shift midway through the book, and that you would start to see that Brett and the model of the show are really just a facade, and that Stephanie is the one who is the truth cannon and really shining a light on what’s going on, which is the complete opposite of what the show is espousing.

HG: Do you think America actually wants to see women succeed and support each other?

JK: I don’t know. You know, we’ve never done it. [laughs] It could be like an experiment. Let’s air a show about women who really like each other and support each other! I mean, listen: Conflict is interesting. No matter who is behind the conflict, conflict is interesting on screen. You need it on scripted shows; you need it on unscripted shows. It provides that drama that you need. I don’t know. [Goal Diggers] is my response to seeing people that I know and that I’ve worked with in the past really glom onto the explosion of #MeToo. And knowing that behind the scenes, how they are in their private lives does not align with this public persona that they’re putting out there as someone who is supportive of women. That hypocrisy drives me crazy. The show is kind of like my invention that gets into that disconnect between the way people present themselves in their public lives vs. what’s really going on in their private lives.

HG: At the end of the book, Kelly makes a comment about how she’s pushing a narrative that serves her and the show better than the truth does. Do you think people are stuck in this area between what we present vs. what life is really like?

JK: Yeah, I do. I think that’s true in not just the performance of feminism. I think that’s a very timely disease of the social media generation. We’re all guilty of presenting this image of ourselves on Instagram or Twitter. And often times, what’s really going on that we’re not captioning, that we’re not taking pictures of, is less glamorous, less funny, less exciting. Everybody has these boring and excruciating Tuesdays where you just can’t bring yourself to do the work that you need to do to get through the day. You’re dragging, you got in a fight with your significant other — you’re not going to put any of that stuff on social media. I think we know the dangers of fully buying into the hype that people put out there, because then it makes you feel worse about your own life. That’s all well-documented.

I do think that something that has emerged over the last year that I noticed, that I respond to in this book that seems like a subculture of that — I was blown away by some of the women I saw posting these inspirational memes about sisterhood and feminism, knowing how they treat other women. It really blew me away. I’m like, Do they know they’re being hypocritical? Or do they not realize that they mistreat other women? I don’t know. Obviously, in the book, Jesse is somewhat aware of the fact that she’s mistreating these women and underpaying them and letting them hang out to dry when they reach their expiration date. But I do think on some level, she buys into her own hype. And I do think that’s what’s going on with some of the real life examples I can think of. I think people do start to buy into their own hype.

HG: Your dedication at the very beginning of the book is intriguing: “For women who know that feeling.” Who are those women?

JK: That is a nod to the section where Stephanie’s talking about why she even signed up for this reality show, and how Jesse seduced her into it. She was sucked in and didn’t know how to get out of it alive. She didn’t know how to get out of it without really hurting her brand, really hurting the identity she created on the show. She starts talking about how when Jesse is unhappy with you, or when Jesse makes up her mind about someone and she’s not shining her light on you anymore, it’s this awful feeling.

That was born from a conversation I was having with someone about the book and being like, I’m writing a book about the way women can be really emotionally abusive to other women, and I’m scared to publish it in this era. We started sharing war stories about our respective female bosses. She was describing a scenario where she was left out of a really key social gathering that happened after work, and she was like, You know that feeling, when a woman has turned her back on you? And I was like, Yes, it is the worst. Your stomach just drops. And the way she said it, I was like, Women know this feeling. So that’s where the dedication came from.

HG: Ugh. Yes. I know that feeling.

JK: I’ve known the feeling for a long time. I’ve known it since middle school. You know, when girls decide they’re going to ostracize you. I think it’s a more painful feeling than being broken up with, than a guy breaking your heart. There’s something so specific about feeling betrayed by another woman that just cuts me to the core.

HG: You mentioned you were nervous about publishing The Favorite Sister in this era. What has the reaction been like?

JK: I was worried about it, and then I started thinking about it more. I started thinking about how I was gonna position the book when it came out. Something that occurred to me, that I think has occurred to other people as well, is the culture that breeds these men who violate women in all of these abhorrent ways also breeds this mistrust and competition and posturing among women. I don’t think that is something we are born with, I don’t think it’s a question of nature. I think we are nurtured to be like that. I think men pit women against each other. I think the culture pits women against each other.

After I made that connection, I started seeing it everywhere. I started seeing it on my TV, I started seeing it in conversations I had with other men. And I realized this is something that if we want to change, we have to recognize it. Because now, when I recognize it, whenever that starts happening, I’m like, Oh, hell no, and I change the channel. If it’s happening in a conversation with a guy, I refuse to rise to it, or I call it out. So I’m glad I did a little soul searching about that and worked that out for myself. I always want to be part of the solution, not the problem.

JK: During one of the awards shows this past winter, there was an actress who got up and gave a speech about the #TimesUp movement, saying all of these necessary and really raw truths. And I got a text message from a guy friend, commenting negatively on her appearance. In the past, even though it would have made me uncomfortable, I wouldn’t want to have made this guy feel uncomfortable, so I would have engaged with it. And I looked at [the text], and I’m like, She’s up here talking about all the fucking women in this room who have been sexually assaulted and harassed and belittled and undermined and underpaid by these rich white dudes, and all you have to say is that she doesn’t look good?

That is so fucked up! No! So I didn’t say anything. And 24 hours later, he followed up and was like, I guess you didn’t like that. And I was like, Well, actually, I don’t like talking about women’s appearances when they’re saying something important and thoughtful. The focus shouldn’t be on their appearance, good or bad. I hate that so much. Writing this book made me more aware of how much of a focus there is on women’s appearances and how it does play into ambition. It really is a distraction to think about all the energy we waste worrying about how we look, what we eat. Men don’t feel like they have to look a certain way in order to get everything they want out of life. I just want the same for women.

Now, the new pressure — Stephanie obviously takes issue with this — is to look like you’re not wearing makeup. To look like you haven’t had your hair done. To look like you haven’t put any effort into your outfit. And it’s so exhausting, because all of that takes so much work, so much money, so much time. Or, if you’re not born with those genes, if you want to try and achieve that effect, it does require all of those things. Again, it’s a distraction. It’s like, Why do I want to waste my brain power and my energy on my appearance, when it could be on something that’s so much bigger and more meaningful?

HG: You write bravely about sensitive topics in both The Favorite Sister and your first novel, Luckiest Girl Alive. How do you find the courage to write so openly?

JK: There’s so much solitude involved in the act of writing. It’s a long, drawn-out process. So when you’re working on it, there’s a part of you that intellectually and logically knows that people are actually going to read this. [laughs] People who know you, and people who might suspect you’re writing about them — all of that is present in the back of your mind. But when you’re by yourself for hours and hours on end, day in and day out, the focus is not on that. You’re alone with yourself, you’re able to be honest with yourself.

It’s only after you’ve written it where I feel like the bravery comes in. To be like, Okay, I’m actually going to allow this to be published. Okay, I’m actually going to allow this to go out. When you’re actually doing it, you don’t really need to be brave. You need to give yourself permission to just write. Because otherwise, you’ll never get it done. It’s so hard to do anyway, and if you’re putting extra shackles on yourself, forget it. It’s just impossible. But the fear of exposure and feeling very vulnerable and having to go through with it anyway, that comes in later. That comes in when you’re closer to the actual publish date.

A post shared by Jessica Knoll (@jessicaknollauthor) on May 22, 2018 at 8:45am PDT

HG: What are you reading right now? And what’s your favorite book that you’ve read this year?

JK: Right now I’m reading The Outsider by Stephen King. But my favorite book I’ve read this year is Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. I just loved that. It was the first time in a while that I had read something about a horrific crime, but there was still so much compassion in how she wrote. I found that to be such a refreshing combination. It really made me think, as a writer, about the kind of writer that I want to be. I love books that simultaneously entertain me and inspire me to be better.

Whoa! Here’s news from out of nowhere that’s making a lot of folks do a double take.

Gospel star Kirk Franklin revealed that his sister has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in Texas.

“My sister was just sentenced to 30 years in prison,” he wrote on Instagram. “I now feel the weight of wondering if I could have done more.”

If you’re wondering just what it was that landed the Grammy winner’s sister behind bars, he isn’t saying. However, he has been open about his sister’s drug addiction in the past via his Patheos blog.

“For over ten years, my younger sister was incarcerated in a facility here in Texas. She was in love with a young man who was drug dealer,” Franklin said in 2015. “He introduced her to not only selling drugs, but using as well. When he was arrested for drug trafficking, she was arrested along with him. After she served her time, she was brought before the review board who determined she was ready to be released and brought back into society. The documents were signed and she was set free… but only on paper.”

He continued:

“After a few months back into the free world, it became obvious to me rather quickly that my sister was still in prison. It’s what they call being institutionalized. She quickly started using again, becoming very reckless with her body, which turned into her using it as a means to pay for her habit.”

It was then Franklin realized he needed to sit down the read the Bible.

“God has given us a tool which renews our thinking,” he said. “It reprograms us to receive everything that is ours. It shows us that we are heirs and joint heirs. It cuts down the weeds that have grown in our minds.”

After making the mind blowing announcement, his friends and followers offered him kind words and wanted to uplift him.

Pastor John Gray left this comment under Kirk’s post:

Jesus. She was your sister. But she was not your responsibility. You did as much as you could. And God knows you did. Don’t hold yourself hostage to the land of what if….you’re a great man. A great husband and father. And a loyal, loving committed brother. Love you man.

Kate Spade refused to get treatment for her debilitating depression, which she had endured for years, fearing the stigma of mental illness would affect her “happy-go-lucky” image, the fashion icon’s sister said in emails sent to her local Kansas City Star newspaper.

Spade is said to have killed herself at her Park Avenue condo Tuesday morning, after leaving a suicide note. Spade was found unconscious by her housekeeper “hanging from a red scarf tied to a doorknob,” The New York Times reported. The housekeeper called 911 and Spade was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:26 a.m. Police confirmed Spade had left a note, but “did not comment on what it said.” TMZ reports the note was addressed to her 13-year-old daughter telling her not to blame herself.

Spade’s sister, Reta Saffo, told her local newspaper that Spade had been obsessed with the suicide of Robin Williams and believes her plan to kill herself may have started taking shape as she obsessively watched reports of his suicide.

Call it provocative. Call it poor taste. But besides Drake and his blackface and baby mother issues we can all agree that the tragic life and legacy of late singer Whitney Houston is just another pawn that’s been exploited for …

Bobby Brown’s sister is speaking out about Kanye West using the photo of Whitney Houston’s hot mess of a bathroom on Pusha-T‘s album.

Tina Brown wants you to know that Kanye did not pay her for use of the photo, which she shamefully regrets taking at a “low and self-destructive” time in her life.

The Blast spoke with Tina, former sister-in-law of Whitney, and she claims “Kanye West did not purchase the picture from me or my son [Shayne Brown].”

The National Enquirer owns the rights to the photo after Tina sold it as part of a story back in 2006. She says the photo represents a night she and Whitney were deep in a drug binge that included smoking crack-cocaine.

Brown admits, “During the time the picture was taken, in 2006, my sister Whitney and I were at a very low and self-destructive point in our lives, it was not only her mess, it was mine as well.”

“She loses them in the house and when she’s out on drug binges,” Tina revealed in 2006, according to chatterbusy. “They cost $ 6000 and the dentist has to keep FedEx’ing her a new set.”

After Whitney’s death, the coroner’s report indicated that she wore dentures.

Brown is adamant that “the public attention and speculation, brought on by Kanye’s broadcasted purchase of that picture and usage have opened old wounds.” She also wants to hear from Kanye about “why he feels the picture is significant to him, at this time.”

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

Now Knoll is back with a second page-turner, stomach-churner of a book, The Favorite Sister. The smart and sharply written thriller is sure to be the beach read you’ll hear everyone raving about this summer, and it’s already on the radar of celebs like UnREAL star Shiri Appleby and former 2 Broke Girls star Beth Behrs.

The plot centers around two fiercely competitive sisters who are cast on Goal Diggers, a Real Housewives of New York-esque reality TV show about ambitious, entrepreneurial women who will do anything to succeed — even commit murder.

After one of the sisters ends up dead, the plot unfolds through the eyes of the show’s stars to reveal who killed her, how and why. Reading this book is as addictive as scrolling through your Instagram or Twitter feed, and certainly as binge-worthy as any reality TV marathon.

Knoll admitted to NPR that she’s spent a fair amount of time indulging in the “guilty pleasure” of binging reality TV herself, which certainly shows in her extraordinarily familiar — yet still surprising — RHONY-inspired characters. “It’s an homage to them. I love these women. I really do,” she told NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro.

“For whatever you have to say about them, they are dynamic women. They have strong personalities. They’re loud. And we don’t get to see women act like that very often in our culture, so I think it’s something worth celebrating.”

The novel, out May 15, is already popping up on summer reading lists — you can pick up a copy at your local bookstore or order it online here.

In the two pics taken by the doting mom, Louis, who was born on April 23, is dressed in a knitted white outfit, while his big sister, Princess Charlotte, 3, wears a blue cardigan as she gives him a kiss on the head.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte at Anmer Hall in mid-May 2015 in Norfolk, England.Kensington Palace

In those pics, it was Prince George, 4, who was captured giving his sister a smooch. But in another historic touch, Charlotte is wearing the same white knitted sweater and pants that Louis donned in the pics released on Saturday.

The Queen and her great-grandchildren in a portrait taken to commemorate her 90th birthday in 2015.Kensington Palace

But that’s not where the similarities end. Saturday’s photos also show Charlotte wearing one of George’s hand-me-downs — a dark blue Fina Ejerique cardigan that her big brother donned two years ago when he posed with his great-grandmother, the Queen, and her other great-grandchildren for a portrait commemorating the monarch’s 90th birthday.

The sweater, which is no longer available online, retailed for about $ 50.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte at Anmer Hall in mid-May 2015 in Norfolk, England.Kensington Palace

As previously reported the new photos of Louis and Charlotte were taken by Kate at the family’s London home at Kensington Palace.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge with their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, in a photograph taken late October 2015 at Kensington Palace.Chris Jelf /Kensington Palace via Getty Images

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

Apparently, due to some family infighting, Toni Braxton has kicked her sister Traci Braxton off her upcoming “Sex and Cigarettes” solo tour. According to TMZ, sources connected to the family believe Tamar Braxton, who is also going on tour with Toni, had something to so with it as she is upset with her sisters and mother for how they’ve been treating her estranged husband, Vincent Herbert, on their reality show.

Remember: Tamar thinks the show’s been edited to vilify her ex, the same man who has been accused of physically and emotionally abusing her.

In the meantime, poor Traci…rumor has it she was working on new music and wanted to perform it on the tour. However, Tamar’s people are saying she had nothing to do with why Traci got dropped.

We’ve already waxed poetic on Cardi B’s style numerous times, from her top-notch fashion week looks to her affordable boots. Now, we’ve got our eye on her younger sister, Hennessy Carolina. Vogue just profiled her Instagram account, and now we seriously regret not following her sooner.

Her account, which boasts two million followers, has everything you’d want: cool outfit posts, entertaining commentary, and the occasional cute ode to her famous older sister. Read on to see some of our favorite Instagrams from Hennessy Carolina.

Taking trips and having new experiences are essential when you are younger. Your 20s are your formative years, and the right time to experiment and find out who we really are. When you are in your 20s, you need to get out and see the world, go traveling, and strengthen the bonds of friendship and family. One of the best vacation ideas would be to take a cruise with your sister.

Your sister is one of the most important people in your life, and, when you’re in your 20s, she is the perfect travel buddy. So, we think you could do a lot worse these days than taking a cruise with your sister. If you’ve ever been on vacay with your sister before, you’ll no doubt remember how great it was. If you never have, this is the perfect chance to build some memories. Here are some great reasons to take a cruise with your sister in your 20s.

Hit the buffet together

Let’s be honest, when you’re taking a cruise, one of the highlights of the trip is going to be the buffet. And your sister is the ideal person to hit the buffet cart with – you can stock up together and share your food with one another. You may well have similar tastes in terms of food, and you can stock up on things you both love. Trust us, the buffet is one of the best sisterly bonding activities you can indulge in.

You can share suitcases

One of the things to account for when you go away together is what you’re packing. Two suitcases can be cumbersome to carry around and might be taking up unnecessary space. But, the beauty of going on a cruise trip with your sister is that you can team up and share a suitcase together. That means extra space in the cabin for you both, and you will still have plenty of room in the case for your things. One case is definitely better than two, and you can both share the load – plus sharing clothes and accessories is also a bonus.

You’re with someone you trust

When you go on a cruise, there are a lot of new experiences to be had, and it’s vital that you have someone you trust with you when experiencing them. This is one of the best reasons to have your sister with you – she’s family, and you know you’ll be able to trust her implicitly. Perfect for when you’re sunbathing, or you need someone to watch your things for you.

You know each other inside out

Another major advantage of vacationing with sis as opposed to friends is that you and your sister know each other inside out. There are so many weird and wonderful quirks you will both have, and you will know each other’s schedules inside out. If you’re a morning person, but she’s not, you’ll already know to slip away quietly in the morning. If she likes to stay out late, but you don’t, she’ll read your body language and decide it’s time to leave earlier. It’s so key to making the cruise more fun and enjoyable.

These are just a few of the fantastic reasons why you should take a cruise with your sister. You need to experience all of the brilliant aspects of going on a cruise, and the way to do that is to make sure you take a cruise with your sister in your 20s.

Just because you’re flat broke, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a wonderful vacation experience. Spring break is the one time all college students look forward to, but it can be over before you know it, so it’s important to make the most of it. Take the time to reconnect with your family, and enjoy time with them. If you’re broke, you might not be able to jet away with friends to Cancun for two weeks, but there’s no reason you can’t have a staycation with your sister.

A great staycation is the perfect chicken soup for the soul, and it’s going to save you money in the process as well. It’s easy to get a little down in the dumps when all your friends are going abroad and having a ball. So, here are some of the most amazing staycation ideas you can use to ensure you and your sister have the time of your lives, without ever having to jump on a plane.

Do brunch – sibling style!

If there’s one mealtime that is perfectly suited to a sibling staycation, it has got to be brunch. You don’t have to go out to a fancy brunch joint either, you can (and should) cook up a feast yourselves. Get the griddles ready, and prep the kitchen, because making brunch is an excellent bonding activity, and the perfect way to get your staycation off to a delicious start. Mix things up, and don’t be afraid to have a go at things you’ve never tried before. This is something that can really help make brunch exciting.

Spend a day totally outside

There will be good days and bad days over spring break, and you want to pencil in the best day as the one you choose to spend outside. There will be plenty available for you to do, it’s just important to make sure you spend the whole day outside, making the most of the nice weather. You might think about having a picnic, or visiting the ocean – biking or hiking your way around the city is another really great idea as well.

Revisit childhood hotspots

There are so many wonderful places you will no doubt have visited as a child, and it’s time to retrace your steps and check these out again. Make a bucket list of the favorite places you visited when you were children, and take the time to go see them again on your staycation. This is a great way of reminiscing, and having the best possible experience during your staycation. Strengthen the bonds of sisterhood by taking some snaps of these places, and stick them on your social media.

Do a bit of shopping

We’re not just talking about the generic shopping trips you’d have in the designer stores. We mean going a little farther out and experiencing a different side of shopping. Check out some awesome thrift stores and flea markets, and purchase some bargains in time for the summer – it’s just around the corner! Stocking up on the right summer wardrobe with plenty of time to spare is the perfect way of bonding together as sisters.

How cool are these ideas for helping you have a memorable and nostalgic staycation as sisters?! There’s no rule saying you have to get away for any length of time, and this is a money-saving way of getting the most out of spring break. We just hope the ideas we’ve given appeal to the both of you.

From the right: Kim Yo-Jong’s Not-So-‘Warm’ Message As part of what CNN declared “a gold-medal-winning diplomatic performance,” at the Olympics, Kim Yo-Jong, sister of North Korea’s leader, left what the network termed a “warm message” in the South Korean president’s guestbook. Which Ethan Epstein at The Weekly Standard considers an interesting way to describe “a…Opinion | New York Post

Kelly Wilbanks

posted in Parenting

My 5-year-old has started asking me if we can give her sister to another family. I’m sure this is in the range of normal behavior…right? I remember thinking my life would be better without my little sister in it, too. A couple of years ago she was asking me if she could move to another family.

She’s seen her best friend’s family morph over the years with adoptions, fostering, and welcoming “bonus” children, so her concept of family is pretty fluid. I like that. But our family isn’t that fluid and her littler sister is here to stay.

I get it. Right now Vivi sees Evie as competition for my time. And she’s not wrong. If the little ones aren’t napping their needs make themselves known, sometimes at full throttle. And Vivi’s chorus of “look at me,” “look at what I made,” or “look at what I can do” gets drowned out.

I feel so torn. Spending time with my cool little kid is fun for me too. I want to invest in the special relationship I have with Vivianne, but get frustrated when she doesn’t acknowledge the time I do give to her. She’s only 5, I get that, but a little validation for the efforts I’m making would help me feel like my energy isn’t going into this vast empty space of want and need.

Some days aren’t so frustrating. Some days we can get away or both babies stay napping and we can sneak in a kitchen picnic like the one Vivi prepared the other day. She set out the cups, I poured the apple juice and she got out frozen Go-gurt, bananas, and apples to eat.

Last week she got off the bus in tears and immediately complained that her ear was hurting. She’d been in pain since lunchtime, but was afraid to go to the nurse. I called her doctors office and snagged the last appointment of the day and was advised to give her some ibuprofen for the pain.

She snuggled into me while we waited for the pain medication to work. As we snuggled, Evie woke up, hair asunder, and joined us on the recliner. Then Annie let out a mighty cry and everyone was shuffled as I went to pick her up.

The babysitter came and I took Vivi to her appointment. The clinic wasn’t far from her dad’s work and he came and joined us. The doctor spoke to Vivi about her ear and her cough. She said, “My cough sounds like a car not starting.” I looked at Tré, amazed at her metaphor.

She kept saying funny things like that. I wondered if I was missing these parts of her personality at home because I was so busy with the babies. At home she’s one voice straining against the others. Here, I was bearing witness to this clever, smart little human alone, really focusing on what she was saying. It was amazing! And no, I’m not just biased because I’m her mom. I swear.

Slipping in a 20-minute picnic is sometimes all the time I have to give. Some day she’ll be older and be the one not having time for me. I want to to stop what I’m doing when I can to give her all the attention I can. Like shutting off the TV when a conversation is taking place; I want her to know that our relationship is important.

As a family of five we will probably always worry about having enough time for each other. But someday the shoe will be on the other foot. I hope she remembers this when it’s her turn to stop what she’s doing and have a kitchen picnic with her children.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Moon Jae-in plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister and other senior North Korean officials who are coming to the South on Friday for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom also said Thursday the North Korean delegates will attend the games’ opening…News | New York Post

After being removed from an International Space Station (ISS) mission, the brother of African American Astronaut Dr. Jeanette Epps is calling out the NASA for overt “racism.”

Last year, it was announced that Epps would be the first African American crew member scheduled to go on the ISS in June 2018. Epps, however, was abruptly pulled off the team last week. Instead, she’s been asked to return to NASA’s Astronaut Office in Texas and is being replaced by Serena Auñón-Chancellor, who joined the astronaut corps in 2009 and has been at NASA since 2006.

“Serena Auñón-Chancellor, who previously was assigned to Expedition 58/59, has been reassigned to the Expedition 56/57 crew, launching in June,” reads a statement from NASA released on Thursday. “She is taking the place of astronaut Jeanette Epps, who will return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to assume duties in the Astronaut Office and be considered for assignment to future missions.”

A NASA spokesperson declined to detail a reason for the change, stating “a number of factors are considered when making flight assignments; these decisions are personnel matters for which NASA doesn’t provide information.”

Although Epps has yet to comment on the matter, her brother, Henry Epps, has launched a petition on MoveOn.org demanding that she be returned to the mission. He also expressed outrage over the change on Facebook and accused NASA of intentionally “holding her back,” reports Newsweek.

“My sister Dr. Jeannette Epps has been fighting against oppressive racism and misogynist in NASA and now they are holding her back and allowing a Caucasian Astronaut to take her place!” Henry Epps wrote on Saturday in a Facebook post that has since been removed.

“My sister deserves a chance just life [sic] her white peers! This administration policies and culture is reprehensible against their stance against women and minorities in this nation. We have lost all of the gains we gained over the past 40 years in one year? No more!” he added. “We cannot continue to tolerate what is going on in America but we must stand together and stand behind our people and our [sic] nation!”

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

From Hollywood child star to modern ingenue, Dakota Fanning’s rise to success has been seamless and without scandal. She tells Martha Hayes where it all went right.

Dakota Fanning has an eye roll is so spectacular, it deserves its own meme.

Becoming famous at the age of seven, followed by 16 years of being asked the same questions repeatedly, has given her ample practice.

The worst offenders allude to how much she’s ‘grown up’ since making her Hollywood debut in I Am Sam (2001) (becoming the youngest actress in history to be nominated, at eight, for a Screen Actors Guild Award); what it was like ‘working with Tom Cruise’ in War Of The Worlds (2005) 12 years ago; and finally, isn’t it a miracle that she didn’t ‘go off the rails’ like so many other child stars. Ugh.

And so it becomes my mission when meeting the now 23-year-old in London for our cover shoot to not give her any opportunity to roll her eyes.

Settled on a big sofa in the middle of a bustling studio on a balmy Sunday afternoon, I tell her I’m assuming she probably has gone off the rails in secret and ask her what’s the wildest thing she’s ever done. ‘It would absolutely not be printable,’ she says laughing, clapping her hands. Definitely no eye roll here.

Dakota Fanning on Hollywood

‘It always cracks me up when people talk about how I haven’t gone off the rails − which I have not, by any means − but you know, I’m a normal person. I love a party and I love having people over for any occasion since I’ve had my own apartment in New York. I’m always like, “You can stay with me!” I don’t cook, but I make cocktails. I make a good margarita.’

Comfily dressed in a navy ribbed sweater and slouchy navy sweatpants, Dakota Fanning has just flown in from Budapest, where’s she’s spent the last six months filming psychological period drama series The Alienist. Described by Netflix as ‘a headstrong secretary determined to become the first female police detective [in 1870s New York],’ Sarah Howard sounds like a dream of a role for Fanning’s first foray into the golden era of television.

Her commitment and attachment not only to the part but to the cast (including Luke Evans and Daniel Brühl) and crew, makes me warm to her quickly. Not just because, on a superficial level, she sounds really fun (‘On one of the first nights they threw an event and I stole all the actors and took them back to my apartment. That was my first party…’) but because she talks with an honesty and sincerity when she could so easily be more jaded.

She is a stickler for routine, and while signing up for a six-month TV show could be daunting, she admits she found it comforting. ‘I like knowing where I’m going to be and making myself at home. [I] work so hard to get comfortable and get to know people. I love the life I’ve had in Budapest.’

As a result, she found reaching the end of the project quite emotional. ‘When you wrap your scenes, the producer or director might say a little something about you. And when they did, I just burst into tears and sat there crying in front of the entire cast and crew.’

Dakota Fanning on growing up as a child star

Always the ingénue and constantly defined by her childhood roles, which also include Charlotte’s Web (2006), or her teen roles in Twilight (2009, 2010, 2012) or The Runaways (2010), I tell Fanning it was refreshing to see her in Ewan McGregor’s American Pastoral last year playing a political terrorist (and with a convincing stutter to boot). ‘But you know what would crack me up? People would say that was my “grown-up” role. I was playing a 16-year-old. That was my grown-up role!’

Around the time of making American Pastoral, Fanning pushed herself out of her comfort zone further by playing a mute wife and mother in western thriller Brimstone alongside Guy Pearce and Kit Harington. She is keen to direct, and will produce as well as play the protagonist in the much-anticipated big-screen adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, directed by her friend Kirsten Dunst.

‘I am definitely ambitious,’ explains Fanning, who is also enrolled on a women’s studies course at NYU, with a focus on the portrayal of women in film and culture. ‘I’ve never been the kind of person who has been like, “I want to do this, this and this, and then I’ll be happy.” Professionally, I am very ambitious but those ambitions reveal themselves, subconsciously, as the challenges come along.’

She’s aware that she is lucky her love of the profession has ‘never wavered’ when a lot of her friends are still figuring their lives out. But in an Insta generation where most actors have a fashion line or a lifestyle platform, does she feel a pressure to do something on the side?

‘I do have moments where I feel like nowadays being just an actor isn’t enough. I was listening to Anna Faris Is Unqualified, which I love, and I was like, [in a paranoid whisper] “She’s an actor. Now she has a podcast… am I supposed to get a podcast?!”

‘It used to be that if you were an actor and you did certain things, it was cheesy, but things are changing so much. I like that the lines are blurred and you’re allowed to do those things. I just don’t know if I have anything I would feel authentic doing yet, because we can tell when it’s not real, right? When somebody doesn’t actually believe in what they’re doing?’

Dakota Fanning on the simple life lesson her mother taught her

For someone so accustomed to Hollywood, Fanning lacks any sense of entitlement and is unfailingly polite. Everything I’d read before meeting her suggested this was going to be the case, but while that’s preferable to a monster ego, I worried it could make her a bit robotic or sedate. I’ve come to the conclusion she’s just incredibly well adjusted and at ease with herself.

She arrives at the cover shoot on her own (which is unusual) and talks to everybody – from the photographer to the stylist’s assistant – in the same, chatty tone. Her body language during the interview also speaks volumes; bare feet up on the sofa, leaning forward when she laughs.

It’s no surprise, then, when she tells me the biggest lesson her mother instilled in her growing up was treating other people well. ‘There are so many things that are out of your control in life and what you can control is how you treat other people,’ she explains. ‘My mom is very selfless. She’s done everything for me and my sister and thought about us a thousand times before she has ever thought about something for herself. I hope to be that way,’ she adds with a giggle. ‘I try.’

Originally from a town east of Atlanta, in Georgia, on the surface it could be assumed her mother – a retired tennis player – and salesman father were pushy stage parents for uprooting the family to La La Land, but it was only ever intended to be temporary.

An enthusiastic performer from the age of five, Fanning was encouraged by a drama teacher to sign up with a local agent and maybe do a couple of commercials. When her mother took her to visit her aunt in LA that summer, she attended some auditions – and kept getting work. Eventually Fanning’s father, sister and grandmother moved out to join them. And she credits that strong female household for keeping her grounded.

‘Seeing my mom be a stay-at-home mom, I saw the strength in that; in choosing to dedicate her life to being the best mom,’ she recalls. ‘I remember promoting The Runaways, [about the first all-girl rock band, co-staring Kristen Stewart] and being asked, “Have you ever been told you couldn’t do something because you were a girl?” And I was like, “No, I haven’t”, and I realised that in growing up with very strong women, I [always had] the feeling there was nothing I couldn’t do.’

They are a close-knit, sporty family. ‘I would be disowned if I said I didn’t like sport. My mom would be like, “How could you say something like that?!” It’s true, I do like it, I just can’t play because I don’t have the drive or passion to be a professional athlete. Or the talent… let’s be honest.’

Dakota Fanning’s relationship with her sister Elle Fanning

Does that make Elle, her younger sister also in the industry, her sparring partner? They certainly know how to wind each other up. ‘She thinks I’m turning into our mom, which I guess is inevitable for everybody, I don’t know. She’s like [puts on moany voice], “You and Mom – you’re like two moms!” Our mom is a constant reminder of “don’t forget to do this, and don’t forget to do that” and I am turning into a reminder. I can’t help it.’

Jokes aside, despite being in the same competitive industry, Fanning and her famous sister have a great relationship, largely because of how organically both their careers developed. ‘All of a sudden, it kind of happened and we kept going because we enjoyed it,’ she says. ‘But we don’t talk about it that much. We have our own separate relationship with what we do. We’ve never felt the need to get into it.’

The four-year age gap hasn’t always been easy. ‘There are a few years where you’re both experiencing such different things; age nine and 13 – nothing in common; 12 and 16 – we didn’t know what to do with each other. Now as she’s getting older and I’m getting older we’re getting closer… and that’s really lovely.’

As separate as they view their careers, isn’t it likely they’ll both go up for the same role one day? ‘We’ve had scenarios where we’ve gone to meet the same person and it’s totally fine. To us, we’re so different.’

In the time I’ve spent with Fanning, I’ve discovered she is fun-loving, loyal, ambitious and passionate about New York, where she’s lived since she was 18 – not bad going considering she once said, ‘If I can achieve it, I don’t want anyone to know anything about me.’

‘I know, I don’t really say anything!’ She’s reluctant to talk about relationships, money or politics. ‘I do still feel that way. I think there’s something cool about being a little mysterious, which is hard to do nowadays.’

She initially resisted joining Instagram (she now has 1.8m followers), ‘but I would get frustrated with people talking about my “grown-up” roles’ and she wanted the right to reply. ‘I thought, I’m not making that big of an effort to show people who I actually am.’

Hers is an unselfconscious and casually curated feed of ‘little flashes of my sense of humour or things I care about.’ I couldn’t help noticing her love of Whispering Angel rosé wine. ‘Oh my god, it’s the best,’ she cries. I had been tempted to bring her a bottle as a gift, but I didn’t want her to take it the wrong way. ‘I would have welcomed it with open arms,’ she reassures me. ‘And we would be drinking it right now!’

The January issue of Marie Claire hits shelves on Thursday 7th December

The sister of Sharon Tate — Charles Manson’s most famous victim — showed mercy toward the ’60s cult leader after learning of his death Sunday. “I said a prayer for his soul,” Debra Tate told PEOPLE. Manson died Sunday of natural causes. He was 83. Tate had previously said that she would pray for Manson…News | New York Post

That’s the perfect sisterly support system right there.

Now, can we discuss their outfits? Gigi’s silver sequined dress and Bella’s floral frock are giving us so much fall style inspo. And we are absolutely digging the show’s ’60s-inspired, bohemian theme (also, the clip definitely proves that fringed vests are back, and we’re 100% on board with that).

It’s also a great reminder that dresses can be layered with jewelry, jackets and wraps to give them an element of funk.

We’re glad that Gigi’s wardrobe malfunction didn’t stop her from finishing out the show, and we’re also glad that sister Bella was there to fall back on. It’s a great reminder that life will always throw the unexpected at us, but as long as we have the support and friends and loved ones, we can make it through like champs!

O.J. Simpson’s sister Shirley Baker is optimistic that her notorious sibling will be released from prison sometime this year, as he comes up for parole nearly 10 years after being found guilty in an armed robbery.

A parole hearing date is set for July 20 and Simpson could be released as early as October.

• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

The 69-year-old former football star claimed he was trying to get back keepsakes that had been stolen from him and that he had no idea his accomplices were carrying weapons.

But the jury found differently, and he was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison in Nevada.

During the Inside Edition interview, Baker said she talks to Simpson every week by phone and visits him in prison four times a year. She said that guards even have a nickname for him: “Nordberg,” after his role in the Naked Gun film series.

The family of Ronald Goldman has also spoken out this year about the possibility of Simpson’s early release. His sister told Good Morning America in February, “He did a horrible, heinous crime and I have no feeling except rot in hell.”

When 13-year-old Grace Villegas wore a long-sleeve, off-the-shoulder shirt to school this week, she didn’t expect her teachers to comment on it. But that’s exactly what happened.

Villegas told Yahoo Style that her Charlotte Russe shirt led teachers at her Kansas middle school to give her “looks that made me uncomfortable in my own skin.” The teen also said that several teachers made comments about the amount of skin she was exposing.

According to her older sister, Isabella, 18, one teacher told Grace that “she was revealing too much chest and shoulders,” and another told her, “You’re just making bad decisions today, Grace.” Isabella told The Huffington Post that Grace eventually changed outfits due to the shame she felt.

When the teen got home and told her older sister what had happened, Isabella was angry. So she decided to channel that frustration into a statement-making T-shirt.

I wanted girls to know that they don’t have to stay quiet.Isabella Villegas, 18

The shirt Isabella made outlines her issues with school dress codes and the way they are enforced ― specifically when it comes to young women. The tee reads:

DRESS CODE:

-promotes the objectification & sexualization of young bodies

-blames the wearer for the onlooker’s perceptions/actions

-perpetuates rape culture

-is BS

Later that evening, she tweeted about it:

my 13 year old sister was dress coded for her shirt today for "revealing too much chest and shoulder" so i made her a shirt to change into pic.twitter.com/NdRQws91HB

The tweet gained significant traction. As of Friday, it has nearly 1,200 retweets and 3,000 likes. And hundreds of people have tweeted back at Isabella.

The 18-year-old told HuffPost that while she doesn’t think dress codes should be completely abolished, they shouldn’t exist as tools of shame.

“Young girls should not be shamed for showing their shoulders and other non-sexual parts of their body for non-sexual reasons,” she said. “[Grace] went in feeling confident, and left feeling like her teachers no longer view her as the good student she is. I wanted girls to know that they don’t have to stay quiet.”

Today in totally random: Penn Badgley aka Dan Humphrey aka Lonely Boy aka Gossip Girl is officially off the market, so any chance of your future romance will live on in that embarrassing fan fiction you wrote back in high school.

The actor and Domino Kirke wed in a Brooklyn courthouse on Monday, surrounded by friends and family. Domino is sister to “Girls” star Jemima Kirke, who also joined in on the celebration. Thanks to guests’ sweet social media posts, we have a clue what the gathering looked like, and it’s already giving us major Jessa’s-ill-fated-wedding-to-Thomas-John in Season 2 of “Girls” vibes. Hopefully, this union has some more staying power.

A post shared by Darren Will (@smileoutofhell) on Feb 27, 2017 at 11:06am PST

Badgley opted for the clean-cut look, wearing a navy suit and dark tie, while Kirke stunned in a simple floral lace dress.

Domino’s other sister Lola Kirke paid tribute to the new couple with a family shot, which included the bride’s son from a previous marriage.

“When someone gets married in a courthouse, it’s really an open invitation to everyone but the beautiful bride to explore all that fashion has to offer,” she wrote in the caption. “Here, I try a look simply called ‘Pants,’ as Cassius goes for ‘That Dude from #incubus’ and Jemima experiments with ‘Off to Therapy!’ Congratulations @dominokirke. We love you.”

Celebrate the big sister with this super cute gift set just for her. The Flower Power Big Sister Gift Set includes a doodle pad, coloring book and more to keep her busy while mom and dad tend to the new baby. This sibling gift comes wrapped in cello and tied with a ribbon.
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Things abruptly changed for you about six months ago when your little sister got out of mommy’s belly and came home from the hospital with us. You were used to having mommy and daddy all to yourself. You and I spent all summer together. We went to the library, Chick-fil-A, played with friends and watched a little too much TV. It was a blast.

No matter the amount of talks and “big sister” books we read, it probably didn’t prepare you for what was to come. All of a sudden, there was a tiny little baby in our house. The baby was loud — probably much louder than you anticipated. The baby was always being held, and the baby always needed mommy.

If this upset you, it was hard to tell. You embody grace, especially for such a big girl who’s 3 years old. Even though you showed a big interest in the baby, you continued your life as usual and you didn’t seem to mind that the baby needed a lot of attention.

This had to be hard on you. I know it was. I know this because you had trouble in other areas, like using the potty. It was your one thing you could hold on to for control, and I guess I don’t blame you. But, you never seemed jealous or upset with mommy and daddy.

I’m a big sister, too. Sometimes, there’s a lot of pressure on us to set an example, not act like a baby and try new things to show that we are so big and so independent. Sometimes, we just have to be flexible, whether we like it or not. Sometimes, we get less attention and less praise. Big sisters have a tough job, but you were cut out for it. You’ve got this.

Now that your little sister has been with us for a little over six months, you use the potty like a big girl, and you are becoming so independent. The struggles you were having before seem to be no more. That doesn’t mean life is easy from here on out, but I have a feeling you will handle those with that same grace.

Kennedy, you need to know that we are proud of you. I don’t tell you this enough. You have a kind spirit, a hilarious sense of humor, a vocabulary that amazes me daily and the potential to be anything.

Most importantly, you have love. I realized this the other day when the first thing you asked from waking up from your nap was, “Where is Caroline?” Then later, you sat there and hugged her face with gusto (maybe a little too much gusto). And a little bit later, you found such joy feeding her puffs. Your little sister smiles from ear to ear when she sees your face, and always looks for you when she hears your voice. Even though I’m her mommy, I have a feeling that you’re her favorite person.

Want to know why?

It’s because of the love that radiates out of you. In the future, I know you will probably dislike her for taking your toys or borrowing your clothes. There may be some days or years that you aren’t very good friends. But she’s your sister. And this love right now? Promise me you’ll always carry it in your heart.

Keep shining, sweet Kennedy. I adore you!

Love,

Mommy

This post originally appeared on Meg O. on the Go. To keep up with Meg, you can follow her on Facebook or Instagram.GPS for the Soul – The Huffington Post
Special News Bulletin-http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

Last week, when my birthday rolled around I reflected once again how nice it has been to share the day with one of America’s great humorists.

At the time of her death, every print and broadcast outlet in the country ran a tribute to Erma Bombeck, the homemaker from Dayton who one day sat down and began sending out dispatches from the front lines of motherhood. The dispatches grew into a column syndicated to over 900 newspapers, and then into some 15 books, including the hilariously titled The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank.

But, as uniformly fond as these tributes were, as I reread them online now, and many of them read as slightly dismissive, framing her almost as a clever dabbler, or a suburban mom who started writing columns as a lark.

As if any writer doing a thing “as a lark” could produce the tightly-crafted sketches she was known for. As if anyone tossing something off in the odd half hour could describe the child-rearing game the way she did.

She wrote in one column that she once lived in a place so small she had to iron in the baby’s playpen.

She wrote in another that if her kids had looked as good as the kids of her perfect neighbor, she would have sold them.

She spoke about the child who could “eat yellow snow; kiss the dog on the lips; chew gum that he found in the ash tray, but wouldn’t drink from his brother’s glass.”

And then there was the column where she imagined how each of her three kids might someday recall her:

Her first-born would think of her as: “The slim dark-haired mom who used to read me stories and paste my baby pictures in the album.”

Her second-born would picture: “The somber-looking bleached blonde who used to put me to bed at 6:30, and bought me a dog to save on napkins.”

And the baby of the family, she wrote, would remember her as: “The grayish lady who fell asleep during the six o’clock news, and was GOING to display my baby pictures, as soon as she took the rest of the roll — at my wedding.”

She had just that light way of describing time’s effect on us all.

But funny as she was, she always told the truth.

She spoke of the feeling that comes to women raising kids in the then-newly fashionable “nuclear family,” where a man, a woman and their children went off and lived on their own, sometimes far from all kin.

Her commentary on this new arrangement: “No one talked about it, but everyone knew what it was. It was a condition, and it came with the territory.”

She called that condition loneliness.

I learned about this loneliness when I left my job teaching to care for my own small children.

In their baby years, I would stuff them into coats and snowsuits and push, or walk or carry them — somewhere — anywhere I might find another woman in another house trying to do the hardest job on earth all by herself.

But, when those babies napped?

When they napped, I’d kick the toys under the couch and begin to read and read, looking for something I could not name — until one day in my daily paper, I met the writer who would show me what I most wanted to do in life.

Erma wrote a column every week for 32 years.

By now, I have been writing one for 35 years — and with every passing birthday, I think what a privilege it has been to follow in her footsteps, recording real life and celebrating its vicissitudes.Comedy – The Huffington Post
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KINSEY JACKSON had finally agreed to go home after a long sabbatical in paradise. She thought she had lost her mind. In her heart, she felt unclean…damaged…from the nightmare that Adam and Derek Myers had put her through. The Summers clan (her maiden name) were survivors and although she was still frightened of crowds and most men terrified her, she had to try to go home and get back to her life. She had survived … Her baby survived. Now, it looked like her marriage would survive, too.They thought the nightmare ended when the cartel that worked with the Myers had been killed or put in jail but the corruption went so much deeper. Sabotage…had not been on their minds when Chief Marco brought his private jet to escort them home. They were going to surprise their families by showing up early unannounced. Through a treacherous storm and high winds they discovered that someone had messed with the gauges and the fuel tank. Their jet shut down and became a glider. Kinsey encouraged Marco to aim for the island ahead…it was the only thing solid for miles. The plane made a rough landing, injuring Marco and Caleb, Kinsey’s husband.It is nearly impossible to try to care for two large muscle bound men, a scared two year old daughter and an infant while the back of the jet was still in the water. KINSEY’S health was border line but she doggedly worked to get everyone ashore and treated. She set up camp in a large cavern just in time to hide from pirates that were trying to take the jet.The struggle for survival took its toll on KINSEY. Her family meant everything to her and she fought like a mama lion against pirates and more of the cartel. KINSEY claimed that she was a trouble magnet…a pervert magnet…and she was afraid for her family and friends to be around her because it wasn’t safe.One of the charter owners held KINSEY at knife point as her sister’s FBI unit ran to their rescue. His plan was the slit her throat as soon as the others got close enough. KINS knew this so she wait

Gap’s official Twitter account responded to Howerton, calling the side-by-side photo recreation “Worthy of a Tony!” According to Broadway.com, Lauper and Porter spread their show’s message of tolerance as part of Gap’s “Make Love” campaign.

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